Panther of the Past
by Ash-Caro-Lynn
Summary: Hogwarts holds a masquerade ball.
1. News For Nancy

Author's Note : Sorry about the lack of stories. I think best in water, and when you're drowning in a freezing lake you have a lot of time to think. My plot bunny whispered this in my ear, so I had to write it down.

Disclaimer : Yes, because we all know I own Harry Potter. Yep, not happening. I own much, but I'm not J.K. Rowling. So I do not own Harry Potter, so I must place in this lovely disclaimer to remind myself of the sad fact I'm not the owner of the magnificent Harry Potter world.

Summary : Hogwarts once held a masquerade ball. Takes place in the fifth year for Harry Potter's parents.

Panther of the Past : Chapter One, News for Nancy

Nancy Webb ran into the Gryffindor common room, searching for her friends, Lily Evans, Alice Prewett and Rachel Feroce. She finally found them in their dormitory.

"WAKE UP GUYS!" screamed Nancy. Lily looked up from the book she was reading, Alice woke up from her nap, Rachel simply continued her staring match with a bedpost.

"Gads Nancy, what's so important?" asked Alice.

"You will not BELIEVE it! There's gonna be a masquerade ball for fourth years and above!" exclaimed Nancy. Rachel got up from her bed and gently guided Nancy to her bed.

"Deep breaths, Nancy. You're hyperventilating," spoke Rachel.

Nancy was the more gossip-type girl of the group of fifth-year Gryffindors. Famous for being the one with low marks, she often got tutoring from Lily. She had straight blonde hair and diamond blue eyes (though Rachel swore they were colored contacts), and always wore a lot of lip gloss. She was a half-blood, her mother was a witch and her father a Muggle.

Lily was the more nerdy girl of the group. She aced every class and could never be seen without a book. She had wavy red hair and emerald green eyes (which Rachel also swore were colored contacts), and carried a twenty-pound book bag, according to those who knew her best. She was a muggle-born, there had been no magic in her family since the beginning of time.

Alice was the more weird girl of the group. She got fairly good marks yet always looked behind her. Paranoid, she sometimes screamed without real reason and accused her fellow housemates of being werewolves, vampires, and sheep. She had straight brown hair and brown eyes (Rachel did not say these were contacts) and sometimes wore glasses - for reading. She was a pureblood, though most called her family blood traitors.

Rachel was the more reserved girl of the group. Nobody really found out about her marks except, of course, the staff. She had black hair - nobody really knew much about the length or type because she was never seen without her hair in a messy bun - and ruby red eyes (which actually were colored contacts). Her background wasn't really known, though it was predicted by the others that she was French, because she did have a slight French accent.

"Sorry," said Nancy, still breathing too quickly for the others' likings. "But I'm so excited! We're going to so have to buy dresses… Lily, when is the next Hogsmeade weekend?"

"I'm not so sure," replied Lily.

"Today, you guys. We are going to Hogsmeade today," assured Rachel.

The other girls squealed. Lily and Alice started talking in hushed whispers about what they were going to wear. They would normally have talked about dates, but this masquerade ball wasn't a date thing, more so a 'go with the flow' sort of theme, you'd go down in your mask and wait for a dance.

Rachel stole from her place on Nancy's bed and walked down to the common room, and to her window seat. To her surprise she saw none other than Remus Lupin sitting there. Rachel did not know much about him - he was reserved - but he was one of the Marauders and she didn't want him in her window seat.

"Excuse me, Remus," she said quietly. Remus looked up.

"Yes?" he asked.

"Do you think that maybe you could, move? I sort of like to occupy that space," she requested, her fingers crossed she wouldn't die.

"Oh! This is… Oh! So sorry! Didn't realize this was the wrong seat. Sure," he frantically explained, getting down and walking to the other window seat. Rachel climbed up and hit her head against the glass window.

"Agh! Stupid ball! I will so not be allowed to go! And everyone else is! Why do I have to come to Hogwarts with so little money?!" she cursed under her breath, still bashing the window with her head.

Alice came down to the common room, searching for Rachel. She walked over to Remus Lupin.

"Excuse me," she greeted. "Have you seen Rachel?"

Remus grunted. "Other window seat."

Alice looked over to see her friend… Bashing her head against the window? Something had to be wrong. She quickly thanked Remus and ran over to her frustrated friend.

"Rachel, what's wrong?" she asked.

"I'm broke!" replied Rachel, still hitting her head against the window.

"So? Owl your parents and ask for some more money!" said Alice. "Easy as that!"

Alice looked nervously behind her, but the moment she turned back Rachel had disappeared. So she shrugged and went back up to the dorm.

"Where's Rachel?" asked Nancy as Alice entered the dorm.

"I dunno, she disappeared. Something about being broke," replied Alice, taking her rightful place at her bed.

Lily and Nancy exchanged worried looks.

"If she's broke then she won't be able to buy a dress! And then she won't be able to go to the ball!" exclaimed Nancy.

"She'll probably owl her family, so that they'll send more money. On the other hand, let's get to Hogsmeade!" countered Lily.

And with that the girls left for Hogsmeade. They didn't see their friend along the way. But they forgot as soon as they got on the carriage.

A/N : Please review! I beg of you! One review = One more chapter!


	2. Lilac For Lily

Author's Note : Woah! Didn't expect a review so quick. But as promised, here's the next chapter!

Disclaimer : I own Harry Potter and all affiliated with it. That's clearly why I'm wasting my life writing and publishing FanFiction instead of doing book signings. Sarcasm! I don't own Harry Potter, Warner Bros or anything associated with the characters. I own my OC's, a bunch of other stuff, but not Harry Potter. I am simply borrowing some of Miss Joanne's characters.

"Come ON!" exclaimed Nancy. "We need to get in before the crowd!"

But Madam Malkin's Robes for Formal Occasions was already bursting with eager Hogwarts students. The trio pushed their way to the back of the store, and looked at the dresses that had not been scattered around the floor.

"What do you think of this one?" asked Nancy, holding up a dangerously low V-Neck baby blue dress with T-shirt style sleeves.

"That totally matches your eyes! And with your hair that will look brilliant!" exclaimed Alice.

"That looks great, Nancy," said Lily.

Nancy went off to try on the dress. Alice found an almost too short ruby red one with strappy sleeves. "Hey Lily, how's this one?"

"Great. How is mine?" asked Lily, holding up a lilac one with blouse style sleeves.

"Er… That would not look nice, pastelly (Shakespeare made up words, why can't I?!) but more of a spring dress," replied Alice.

"The ball is a SPRINGTIME ball, silly goose!" exclaimed Lily.

"I'm not a goose, I'm human…" muttered Alice, before stalking off to the change rooms. Lily quickly followed.

Shortly after, to the girls' glee, they managed to purchase their dresses as well as shoes and masks and get on the carriages back to Hogwarts.

In the meantime, Rachel got off her carriage. She walked a little, before seeing Madam Malkin's Robes for Formal Occasions. She only had 50 Galleons to last the whole school year, but after peeking in and seeing a 200 Galleon dress, she decided against it. So she took a stroll around Hogsmeade, finding no stores with anything within her spending limit. She finally stumbled along a small store with a white dress in the display case. Finding no price tag, Rachel walked in.

"Hello?" came a curious voice from the back of the store. Rachel ignored it and looked around.

There were tons of dresses. All different colors, styles, sizes. Seemed this place never had much business. There weren't any price tags. She looked out of the corner of her eye to see a small woman coming her way.

"Can I help you?" asked the woman.

"I need a dress for the masquerade ball at Hogwarts, but the other stores are too crowded. I would like to buy a dress… But are there any prices?" explained Rachel, hoping that these weren't overly expensive dresses.

"We never get any business here! Come over here, I'll measure you!" exclaimed the woman, leading Rachel to a platform. Rachel stood up and put her arms out while the measuring tape floated all around her.

"Ah yes. Can you take those contacts off?" asked the woman. "If, of course, they aren't necessary."

"Sure," obliged Rachel, removing her contacts to reveal her very real amethyst eyes.

"All of them," said the impatient woman.

"These are my true eyes," sighed Rachel.

"Okay then. Do you just want to go with a black dress?" asked the woman.

"Yes… that's my favorite color as it's nice and simple," replied Rachel.

The woman disappeared, coming back with a black dress, black flats and a black mask. The dress had flowing long sleeves, a twirling skirt, a not-so-low V-neck and a tight form. The flats were simple, with a form-fitting sole for comfort and a nice bow on the toe. The mask was just a black mask with two perfect eye holes. It would cover Rachel's forehead and most of her face, excluding her mouth.

Rachel sighed. "How much… is all of this?"

"How much do you have?" asked the woman.

"50 Galleons to get me… through the school year," sighed Rachel.

"25 Galleons?" offered the woman.

"25… Only 25? Really?" asked Rachel.

"Absolutely. You were brave enough to come in here, you deserve it," confirmed the woman.

Rachel took out her purse, and slid over 25 Galleons. She had 10 handed back to her.

"What's this for?" asked Rachel.

"You're going to need to get jewelry, aren't you? Now go, get something special. And get back to your common room before your friends wonder where you are!" shooed the lady. Rachel quickly left the small shop and walked into another small shop of trinkets.

A man came to the counter. "May I help you, Mademoiselle?" he asked. There was a thick French accent in his voice, so Rachel gathered hers.

"Je veux un bracelet, un collier, une paire de boucles d'oreilles et une bague, s'il vous plait, monsieur," she requested.

"Decors. Voici c'est les bijoux," he replied, gesturing a display case.

"Est-ce que tu as un ensemble de tout? En noir?" asked Rachel.

The man pulled a box off a shelf, blew the dust off, and slid it over the counter to her.

"Ca c'est vingt galions. Ca c'est bien?" asked the French man.

Rachel opened the box, and pulled out a necklace, a bracelet, a pair of earrings and a ring. They all had a black onyx center, surrounded by sterling silver. She was amazed.

"Ca c'est merveilleux!" exclaimed Rachel.

And with that she pulled out the money, slid it over the counter to him, placed the items back in the box and into her bag with the dress, and left.

A/N : Please leave a review! And thanks to AmaryllisBloom for reviewing and favoriting, and Oblivion Caller for following. One review = One chapter.


	3. Weeks of Waiting

Author's Note : Sorry! I totally forgot the translation for that last piece of French on the last chapter. So that's at the end of this chapter.

Panther of the Past : Chapter Three, Weeks of Waiting

The three Gryffindor girls chatted animatedly until Lily brought a question to the surface.

"Nancy, when exactly is this masquerade ball?" she asked.

"In 2 weeks!" replied a rather overexcited Nancy.

Lily turned around to watch out the window of the carriage, Alice continued her paranoid glances around her, Nancy applied a temporary tattoo to herself.

Rachel sighed as she boarded a carriage. She had had a bad sleep last night - well she always did - and definitely was not ready to go to Hogsmeade and buy stuff for the unsurprisingly random masquerade ball. Hogwarts was not the most well renowned for giving notice in advance, last year they had had a most inconvenient party - the night right before the exams. Dumbledore had a fairly interesting planning method. It didn't get any better when you were part of Professor Slughorn's little club. He was particularly fond of randomly timed overnight parties. Being smart had it's disadvantages. But then again, that's definitely not what this FanFic is about, so back to topic.

Rachel was on the verge of falling asleep when someone entered the carriage. She opened her eyes. It was more than one someone, it was none other than Messrs Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail (The Marauders).

"Uh, hello? Is it not four to a carriage?" she asked. But the four young gentlemen seemed not to notice. So she couldn't help but 'overhear' their conversation.

"Who do you think is going to look beautiful at the ball?" asked Sirius Black.

"Lily Evans," came the immediate reply from James Potter.

"Seriously Prongs, you still like her?! After all this time?!" exclaimed Peter Pettigrew.

"I think Nancy Webb will look nice, she has a nice body and is pretty hot…" said Sirius.

"But she wears far too much lipstick," said James.

"You and Nancy fit one another, you are both ever so charming," muttered Remus, with an eye roll to complete the sarcastic package.

"Well, who do you think will look nice?" asked Sirius, grinning. Remus never told any of them who he liked.

"Ray-" started Remus. He stopped when he noticed Rachel staring up at the ceiling of the carriage, leaning against the wall. "Hey, when did you get here?"

"Far before you did," came the curt reply.

"My dear Padfoot, did you notice this lovely lady of our house before you entered?" asked James.

"My dear Prongs, I do not believe I noticed this lovely and quiet lady of our house before I entered," replied Sirius.

"Whatever," said Rachel rolling her eyes. "Hey Remus, why are there moon charts sticking out of your bag?"

Remus rushed to hide them into his bag. "Astronomy…"

"Don't worry, I know about… How much you enjoy the full moon," calmed Rachel. Remus paled. "And anyways, you don't take astronomy."

All the Marauders stared at her with a look that combined fear, awe, and distrust.

"Well, when did you find that out?" asked Peter.

"First year, went to the Whomping Willow at the full moon to find out where the annoying howling was… Assumed it was some kind of a joke," replied Rachel.

Remus stared. "So that… Was you?"

"No… Clearly wasn't me… So what's it like being illegal Animagi, James, Sirius, Peter?" asked Rachel, changing the topic just slightly.

But before the angered three could respond, the carriages came to an abrupt halt. The Marauders quickly exited, Rachel coming slower. She stopped to pet the thestral.

"You always remind me of them… Thank you," she whispered, and quickly sprinted up to the castle.

All were happy. All was well.

A/N : As promised, here's the translation :

'A man came to the counter. "May I help you, Mademoiselle?" he asked. There was a thick French accent in his voice, so Rachel gathered hers.

"I want a bracelet, a necklace, a pair of earrings and a ring, if you please, sir," she requested.

"Okay. Here is the jewelry," he replied, gesturing a display case.

"Do you have a set of all? In black?" asked Rachel.

The man pulled a box off a shelf, blew the dust off, and slid it over the counter to her.

"This is twenty galleons. Is this good?" asked the French man.

Rachel opened the box, and pulled out a necklace, a bracelet, a pair of earrings and a ring. They all had a black onyx center, surrounded by sterling silver. She was amazed.

"This is marvellous!" exclaimed Rachel.

And with that she pulled out the money, slid it over the counter to him, placed the items back in the box and into her bag with the dress, and left.'

Please give me another review, I so love hearing you guys' feedback! You sure know how to lighten up a life. Thank you very much to Invisible Life and totallyobsessed123 for reviewing and following, and the guest reviewer for the heads-up, it's much appreciated.


	4. Preparations For a Party

Author's Note : Here's some James/Lily romance! However, I felt so guilty writing this chapter, I couldn't believe it! I never have emotions! So sorry about this…

Panther of the Past : Chapter Four, Preparations for a Party

Weeks later. Finally, the night of the masquerade ball. Nancy screamed.

"Oh my gosh! It's three o'clock already, and the ball starts at eight o'clock! **** (more mature audiences see that at the end of the chapter) those stupid classes!"

"Relax, Nancy. Five hours is a lot of time, especially with magic. Take a shower and I'll help you get ready so you look great," whispered Rachel, rubbing circles on Nancy's back.

"Aren't you going to get ready too?" asked Lily.

"No… Doesn't matter…" replied Rachel. So the other three went off to the showers, as Rachel got out their make-up kits and planned out how she would dress them up. Ten minutes later the trio returned, drenched and wrapped in towels.

"Nancy. Come sit down, lets have a looksie," said Rachel. Nancy threw on a T-shirt and shorts, and sat down in the chair Rachel had gestured.

Rachel performed a drying charm on Nancy's hair and started brushing it gently and thoroughly. "How you wearing this lion's mane?"

Nancy turned and playfully slapped Rachel. "I will be wearing my perfectly human hair in a nice messy bun."

"Whatever," said Rachel, rolling her eyes and setting Nancy's 'lion's mane' into gentle curls, framing her face.

"Hey! This is NOT what I had in mind!" exclaimed Nancy, not-so-playfully hitting Rachel's arm. "But, then again, it does so totally look great… This is better!"

"Ow," muttered Rachel, rubbing her arm. "Okay then…"

Fifteen minutes later, Rachel had tamed the 'lion's mane' into exquisite curls and given it volume with hair spray. So she moved to the other side and began on Nancy's face, using a little of everyone's makeup to apply just the right shades of primer, foundation and moisturizer onto her friend's pale face. She used her own red lipstick and a detail brush to paint Nancy's lips just the right shade. Moving up, she used a very pale pink blush just to highlight what she was going to do to the eyes. With the use of a silver, gray, and black, she made the eyes absolutely pop with a perfectly outlining smoky eye. In the meantime, she had charmed nail polish bottles to paint the fashionista's nails a nice scarlet and had allowed Alice and Lily to choose jewelry.

After her fashion treatment, Nancy got into her baby blue dress, 5-inch pumps (which Rachel commented looked amazingly comfortable) and darker blue mask. Sure, it didn't show off much of the makeup, but Nancy looked stunning… and within an hour and a half Nancy had gone from a drenched mess to a beauty in blue. She judged herself in the mirror.

"Oh… My… GOD! I look awesome!" she exclaimed, hugging Rachel tightly. "Thank you SO much!"

"You are absolutely welcome, young Nancy. I hope now you realize that though good at fashion, you are still an amateur compared to the remarkable Rachel…" replied Rachel. Lily and Alice laughed, Nancy tried to scowl but failed to maintain her serious face and burst out in laughter.

After fifteen minutes of immense giggling in the girls' dormitory, Lily declared herself next and received an equally brilliant treatment.

So she simply had a moisturizer and foundation applied to start. Next, her lips were painted with Nancy's pale pink lipstick, to bring the attention to her auburn hair. Accompanied with an even paler pink blush, it definitely made her hair stand out. Lily was lucky enough to have emerald eyes that highlighted her auburn hair, and as Rachel would rather have it host the show than steal it, she settled with a light cream color. Setting the redhead's hair into ringlet curlers, she performed a time charm and removed the curlers. Brushing it out, it became much more wavy. Finishing it off with a nice lilac bow in the back, Rachel declared Lily done, and the redhead gladly ran to get her dress on and carefully got into her lilac 3-inch sandals (which, according to Rachel, weren't as comfortable as Nancy's but still looked fairly cozy). She placed her mask on and at 6:00 half of the quartet was ready, so Alice was next.

"Rachel, please don't do that much… I know I won't look that good anyway," she sighed.

Rachel struggled to hold back her laughter. "Of course, just lemme get this over with."

So at 7:20, all were equipped with a dazzling face and perfectly fitting dresses. Rachel saw them to the door.

Nancy got to the Great Hall first. She went inside, as they could hang out before the dancing started. She got seated at a table with none other than the charming Sirius Black.

"Hello there," she smiled.

"Well, hello my good lady," he replied. "May I get you some punch?"

"Why, most certainly," she replied.

In the meantime, Lily Evans was sitting alone. That was, until a person in red and gold robes (who on earth could that be?) rushed up to her.

"Lily, please, just for tonight, be my girl. I will not do anything rash, I promise. Nobody will remember," he begged. Lily sighed.

"Absolutely, James Potter. I will be your girl for tonight. Don't mess anything up," she warned. James nodded and ran off to the punch table.

"Well, well, well. My dear Prongs, why are you blushing so deeply?" asked Sirius, smirking.

"My dear Padfoot, Prongs has four words for you," replied James. "Lily Evans is hot!"

"My dear Prongs, did you manage to somehow secure the girl?" asked Sirius, his smirk never fading.

"My dear Padfoot, indeed I did," replied James. He took the punch back to the table where Lily was waiting.

"Here you are," he said, holding out the cup. Lily accepted.

"Took you long enough," she muttered, rolling her eyes.

In the meantime, Alice Prewett was getting acquainted with a charming young Hufflepuff boy by the name of Frank Longbottom (sound familiar?). She had immediately taken a liking to him, and he was also one who understood her long list of phobias, and shared most of them.

"Call me a hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobic, but I am so scared of long words," said Alice, hyperventilating a little.

"So am I," replied Frank, also breathing a little too quickly.

Eventually, it was time to take the dance floor. James Potter, eager to make the most of his night, dragged Lily off to the dance floor as quickly as possible. They immediately stole the show. James had had a lot of balls at his house, as he was a pureblood, and Lily had been taking dance class since she was four. Both being very experienced, they immediately took the spotlight.

Sirius Black was the second to reach the dance floor. He and Nancy weren't very good dancers but were eager to get dancing. So they moved forcefully, with Sirius doing a fairly good job of leading, but had fun.

Frank Longbottom feared that he would get jinxed to oblivion if he stepped foot on the dance floor, as did Alice, but eventually, as being the twenty-first couple on the dance floor (3 and 7 are lucky number = 21), they got into it.

After the others left, Rachel immediately closed the door, removed her contacts (which only helped with seeing red from pink), and did her makeup quickly, took her hair out of the messy bun it was always in so that her hair was knee-length, pulled on her dress, shoes and mask, and rushed down to the Great Hall. Not believing for a moment that she looked good.

All eyes turned to look at the late arrival - the ball had started fifteen minutes previously - all dressed up in black. Nobody moved for a second, but then resumed their normal activities.

Rachel looked nervously around. She wasn't an outgoing person. So she sought out an empty table with her eyes and walked over. So many people were wearing red… She grabbed a glass of the mysterious pink punch and took a seat. Rachel was so affixed to watching James and Lily take over the dance floor - they were both graceful and amazing dancers - she barely noted the person sit down beside her.

"Hello there," he said. Rachel nearly jumped in her seat. She turned around to see a young man dressed in black seated at her table. She couldn't help but blush.

"Hello there," she replied. "Welcome to this table. We formerly stocked invisible cookies, but unfortunately I lost them…"

He let out a low chuckle. "Why are you sitting here all alone?"

Rachel pondered what to say. "Why, I have no one to dance with."

"Well then," he chuckled, holding out his arm. "Shall we?"

Rachel took the proffered arm and, hoping he was a good dancer, allowed him to lead her to the dance floor.

They were the perfect height for one another, him being just about an inch taller. Rachel placed one hand on his shoulder, one hand against his hand. He snaked a protective arm around her waist and they danced.

After 4 hours it seemed like they had been dancing 4 years. They had failed to remove the spotlight from James and Lily but that didn't matter. Because they were happy.

"Are you tired?" asked the gentleman who Rachel had been dancing with. Rachel nodded.

"Can we go outside?" asked Rachel. The gentleman nodded and led her outside.

"So who are you?" he asked.

"Who are you?" Rachel countered. He sighed and removed his mask.

She couldn't believe it… It was none other than…

A/N : See why I felt guilty?! By the way, Nancy's foul language at the start of the chapter was fuck, I just didn't want anybody who wasn't ready to see it to read. Post a review and tell me how I'm doing and who you think the mystery person is. Thank you to my reviewers : hhhhhhhhhh (Guest), TrueColorsNeverFade, "Katniss Bella Potter" (Guest) and Thegirlthatread. And to TrueColorsNeverFade for also favoriting and following.


	5. Surprise For Severus

**Author's Note : This should be the best chapter yet, the plot actually starts to unravel. Read the name of the fic and you should realize it's not just about the masquerade ball.**

Panther of the Past : Chapter Five, Surprise for Severus

She couldn't believe it… It was none other than…

"Severus Snape?!" she exclaimed.

"Now remove your mask," he replied.

Rachel reached up to pull it off. Severus watched eagerly. He blinked just as the mask fell to the ground. When he opened his eyes, she was gone. The only evidence left behind was a black mask. He picked it up, startled. Where had she gone?

~~~Time Warp : Yule Ball, 1994~~~

Hermione Granger stood out on the verandah, crying. That stupid ginger git! She could not believe it… She stared off the verandah, wondering if someone else had also sat there, crying. It seemed like that was true. She barely noticed the loud pop behind her.

"Hello?" came a voice. Hermione spun around.

"Who are you?" asked Hermione.

"Rachel Feroce…" replied Rachel.

"I'm Hermione Granger. I don't remember seeing you around here before," replied Hermione.

"Nor do I remember seeing you…" muttered Rachel. "Hey, what's going on in there?"

"The Yule Ball," replied Hermione. "A stupid git just ruined it for me though!"

"A ginger?" asked Rachel.

"Ronald Weasley, to be exact," replied Hermione.

"So… What's today's date? I don't remember a Hermione Granger or a Ronald Weasley," asked Rachel.

"December 12th, 1994," replied Hermione.

"Holy crud," muttered Rachel.

"What's wrong?" asked Hermione.

"I strictly remember it being March 18th, 1975. That's what's wrong," said Rachel.

**A/N : Short chapter, I know. But I wanted to have next chapter be an action sort of thing, and this was mostly a filler-in. Thank you to Thegirlthatread for reviewing once more, to BlondeLunaa for following, and to . .Like. for being a stalker!**


	6. An Astonishing Account For Albus

**Author's Note : Hello again, I have returned to set at ease your anticipation for the sixth chapter of Panther of the Past. So here we go again. By the way, I'm not sure why the last chapter got on around 3AM...**

Panther of the Past : Chapter Six, An Astonishing Account for Albus

"I strictly remember it being March 18th, 1975. That's what's wrong," said Rachel.

Hermione stared at her company. She had gotten over her sadness, all the tears and pain had already been thrown away like vomit. But her mixed emotions caused her brain to stop momentarily. But she eventually was pushed back into reality.

"1975? But that's twenty years ago!" exclaimed Herione, grabbing Rachel's hand. "Come on, we had better see Professor Dumbledore."

Luckily, Professor Snape was just leaving Dumbledore's office. Rachel heard him say the password from inside, so five minutes after Snape had left they went to the door.

"Mint humbugs," said Rachel, clearly. The gargoyles sprang open.

The two walked into the office. Professor Dumbledore sat at his desk.

"Good evening, Miss Granger. I see you have brought a friend with you," he greeted. "Who might you be?"

"Rachel Feroce? Ring any bells?" asked Rachel, who had never had much respect for the old man.

"This is Rachel, she claims that she is from March 18th, 1975," explained Hermione.

"Indeed, she is correct. Miss Feroce, whatever happened to you?" asked Dumbledore.

Rachel lapsed into a detailed explanation, from how she had bought her dress to when she had been dancing with Severus to when she had almost apparated into the future. Professor Dumbledore listened attentively the entire time.

"And then I found myself ending up here," finished Rachel.

"Do tell me, who was in your year, in Gryffindor?" asked Albus.

"There was me, Nancy Webb, Alice Prewett, Lily Evans, James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew," listed Rachel.

"Er, yes. I have something very difficult to explain. Nancy Webb was killed by Death Eaters (at this Rachel gasped), Alice Prewett married Frank Longbottom but was tortured into insanity by the Lestranges (Rachel's hands balled into fists), Lily Evans married James Potter (if this was a more happy time Rachel would have collapsed in hysteria), Sirius Black is wanted for the death of Lily and James by Voldemort's hand (Rachel looked nervously around), Peter Pettigrew is dead (A/N : What did you expect?)," explained Dumbledore.

"Nancy, Lily, James and Peter are dead… I don't mind Peter, he was an ***hole, but that's just terrible. Alice was tortured into insanity, Sirius is a convicted criminal… What about Remus?" asked Rachel, struggling to fit all of the confusion into her relatively small head.

"He is fine," replied Dumbledore. Rachel let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding in.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir?" asked Hermione.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" asked Dumbledore.

"Do you think she might know about… Harry's parents? Harry has been very eager for news about them recently," asked Hermione.

"Lily and James had a kid?" asked Rachel.

"Indeed, Miss Feroce. And just for the sake of keeping you up to date, I'll tell you what happened," said Dumbledore. "There was a prophecy. The prophecy mainly stated that the boy who was born to those who had thrice defied him at the end of July would cause his downfall. On July 31st, 1980, Harry was born to Lily and James Potter, who had thrice defied him. On Halloween the next year, Voldemort (Hermione cringed, Rachel just nodded) decided to finish this child. He first killed James. Then Lily. But then he couldn't kill Harry. His Killing Curse was reflected back at him."

"Harry, a one year old child, survived the Killing Curse, so powerful it had killed many powerful wizards and Muggles alike. I think I know why," said Rachel.

"And why is that?" asked Dumbledore. He had, in fact, been wondering.

"Because she said 'I love you' and really meant it," replied Rachel.

"Sir, may I get Harry? He should be quite excited to meet Rachel," asked Hermione.

"Not now. In the morning, before classes, though. Best get back on your hallway duty," said Dumbledore. Hermione quickly left.

"Miss Feroce, I know it is probably a hard topic for you, but who are your parents, and what happened to them?" Dumbledore asked Rachel as soon as Hermione was out of earshot.

"My parents are no matter that concerns you," replied Rachel. Dumbledore sighed.

"Very well. You are dismissed," said Dumbledore. Rachel swiftly moved out of the Professor's office. She was about to leave when she heard a voice outside… It sounded like James!

"Bertie and Bott's Every Flavor Beans? Acid pops? Licorice wands? Chocolate frog? Oh, do come ON!" exclaimed Harry.

"Mint humbugs" said Rachel. She left as Harry entered, not even bothering to look back. If she had, she might have seen the look of confusion and awe that had been shot at her.

Rachel walked a while before realizing she had no place to go. She leaned against the wall, sighing and wishing she had a place to sleep. She jumped a foot in the air when the walls behind her shifted, revealing a door. Startled, she walked in, hoping that nobody would catch her in there if she was not supposed to be in there.

She was amazed. She saw a bed, a sofa, a bookshelf… It almost looked like her bedroom at home. Well, it didn't. She didn't have a bedroom at her house. More so one of the ones in her dreams.

**A/N : Another filler-in, I know. Who do you think Rachel's family is? I'll give you two hints. Rachel doesn't want anyone to know, and she's an only child. Thanks to Thegirlthatread for reviewing again. Thank you to all for reading.**


	7. History For Harry

**Author's Note : Seven's my lucky number! Anticipated chapter, where Harry meets Rachel, Severus finds out who he danced with, Rachel continues on to finish her education, and all questions should be answered. It's the longest one yet. Just so you know, there will be about 12 chapters in total. If all goes well.**

Panther of the Past : Chapter Seven, History for Harry

Rachel woke up. She jumped out of bed, held out her hand-gun (her hands, shaped like a gun) and looked around. She knew she was most definitely not in the dormitory. As her memory came back to her she laid her hands back at her sides. She wished she had her robes and a hairbrush, and watched in amazement as both appeared on the nightstand. Rachel remembered the Marauders talking about this room, she believed it was the Required Room or something… She brushed out her hair, tied it up in a messy bun (magic, hello?!) and put her contacts back on (there IS magic, it's HARRY POTTER, gods). She rushed out of the room into the corridor. She noticed Harry Potter hitting the brick wall, with none other than the Marauder's Map in hand. She snuck past him and went down to the Great Hall, hoping that she could go unnoticed.

Sadly, this was not true. Things weren't exactly unnoticed when you bump into Draco Malfoy.

"And what do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"I don't know, what do you think you're doing?" countered Rachel. Draco's smirk fell.

"You do know who I am, right?" asked Draco.

"Of course I do. You're a git," replied Rachel, and pushed past him to the Great Hall. Later, as she replayed the incident in her head, she realized that he was probably never spoken to like that and definitely deserved it.

As soon as she got there, she realized that things were true. This was most definitely not 1975. She searched the Gryffindor table for an empty seat, and spotted one next to Hermione. So she walked over.

"Hey, do you mind if I sit here?" asked Rachel. "Who are you?!" exclaimed Hermione.

"Same person I was last night, I should be," replied Rachel. Hermione relaxed.

"Sure, sit down," obliged Hermione.

Ron tried to say something, but it came out something like 'foo rud ell she'. At the girls' confused looks, he swallowed.

"Who the bloody hell is she?" asked Ron, a bit more clearly.

"None of your bloody business," replied Rachel.

Ron muttered something like 'stupid git' under his breath and went back to stuffing his moth.

"Don't worry, that's Ronald, the ginger git I was telling you about," Hermione whispered to Rachel, who nodded and decided that if there was any time to eat, it was now. Eventually Harry joined them.

"Uh, who are you?" asked Harry.

"The same question could be directed back at you," replied Rachel.

"Uh, Harry Potter? Savior of the wizarding world? Hogwarts champion for the Triwizard Tournament? Ring any bells?" asked Harry.

"All that really rings any bells is the surname Potter and the school's name Hogwarts. No, not really," replied Rachel. She stuck out her hand. "I'm Rachel Feroce."

Harry took it, confused as to why she did not know who he was. After all, he was probably the wizarding world's biggest celebrity. He sat down next to Ron.

The rest of breakfast went on in silence, the only sounds being those of the other students and the not-so-occasional sound of Ron eating. Eventually half of them got up, leaving Harry and Ron.

"So, do you, or did you, attend Hogwarts?" asked Hermione.

"Glad to say I have. I'm in my sixth year (A/N : I upped her year, okay?)," replied Rachel.

"What house are you in?" asked Hermione.

"Sure hope I'm still in Gryffindor," replied Rachel. "Though Slytherin wouldn't be too bad…"

"WHAT?!" exclaimed Hermione.

"That, my dear, is a little thing called sarcasm," explained Rachel. "So can you tell me about the current staff?"

"Well, there's Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster. Professor McGonagall, the deputy headmistress, Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor house," listed Hermione. Rachel zoned out after she heard Flitwick's name.

As soon as Hermione seemed done, Rachel asked, "So should I be following my old timetable or what?"

"Oh, we'll need to get you acquainted with a new one. Let's go see Professor McGonagall," replied Hermione, leading her towards McGonagall's office.

"Oh, hello Professor McGonagall. Still looking young as ever," said Rachel. Professor McGonagall simply stared.

"Rachel Feroce?" she asked.

"Is there another? As long as there isn't another, yes," replied Rachel.

"We've come to get her a timetable, Professor. She claims to be in her sixth year," explained Hermione.

Professor McGonagall nodded, and handed Rachel a timetable. Rachel compared the modern one and her usual one.

"Hm…" she muttered. "They're the same."

Hermione quickly dragged her out. "So what do you have?"

"Charms, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies and Potions," replied Rachel.

"Okay, then. The classes should be where they used to be," said Hermione, leaving Rachel clueless. She compared the maps on the backs of the timetables. Oh no. Aw crap. All of the classes are in different places. Oh no. Aw crap. This is going to be hard.

Eventually, she arrived five minutes late to Charms. Professor Flitwick was taking roll call. She got a few stares as she walked in. She took a seat next to two redheads, they seemed friendly enough.

"Hello," said one.

"Welcome to this table," said the other.

"We formerly stocked-" started one.

"Invisible cookies, but unfortunately he lost them," cut off Rachel. They stared.

"How did you know?" cried one.

"That's our thing!" exclaimed the other.

"Fred Weasley?" called the professor.

"Here," said the boy on the right, which was apparently Fred.

"George Weasley?" called Professor Flitwick.

"Here," said the boy on the left, which was apparently George.

Professor Flitwick squinted to read the name that had been hastily added to the bottom of the list. "Rachel… Feroce?" he called.

"Here," said Rachel, receiving several stares from the other students.

"Are you a transfer student?" asked Professor Flitwick.

"You could say that," replied Rachel. (A/N : I thought of her saying she was from Beauxbatons, but that would be too obvious because of the Triwizard Tournament)

"Okay class. Today, our charm will be the Anti-Alohomora charm, Prod-Alohomora," explained the professor.

The padlocks that had been previously placed on the desks were used for practice. Not much of the class succeeded on their first try, but two did. Throughout the whole class, a total of 18/19 students had mastered the charm, as well as the unlocking charm that would work against it, Resero.

The bell rang and the students went to their next classes. Rachel went into the empty Ancient Runes class.

She took a seat near the window, and waited patiently for more of the students to come. Only two did, the Weasley twins from before. The professor eventually made her appearance.

"Hello class. I'm Professor Babbling, and you are here today to learn the art of Ancient Runes. We'll start off with roll call. Fred, George?" she said.

"Here," the twins replied in unison.

"And Rachel?" she called.

"Here," replied Rachel.

"Okay then. Assuming that we all have our foundation for knowledge of Ancient Runes, we'll be moving on to this new rune. Can anyone tell me what it is?" asked Professor Babbling.

"The Egyptian peroglyphic rune," replied Rachel. "They used it to charm their pyramid walls to be able to withstand all of the carvings, otherwise they would have probably all collapsed and not be standing today."

"Correct. Ten points to Gryffindor. This rune is ancient, can anybody tell me how old it is?" asked the professor.

An hour later and 60 points more for Gryffindor, the lunch bell rang and the three scurried out of the classroom and down to the Great Hall, where lunch was being served.

"So how did you know about the invisible cookies trick? It's our thing!" exclaimed Fred.

Rachel smirked. "It was my thing far before it was yours."

"How is that possible? We were four when we made it up!" cried George.

Rachel turned to face the two of them. "You could say I'm a transfer student. My name is Rachel Feroce, I was born July 31st, 1959. I was whizzed to the future the other day. Ever since September 1st, 1970, that's been my thing," explained Rachel. The twins stared at her.

"You're telling us," started George.

"That you're from the past?" asked Fred.

"I don't care if you don't believe me, I didn't believe it myself until this morning," assured Rachel. In a blink of an eye, she was gone.

"Why Gred, do you think we should believe her?" asked George.

"My dear Forge, I do think that she is telling the truth," replied Fred.

So they went down to the Great Hall, and took seats on either side of Rachel.

"Nice contacts," said Fred.

Rachel turned to look at him. "Why would you think they're contacts?"

"Because nobody has red eyes. They're as rare as purple eyes," explained George. Rachel struggled not to laugh, but eventually couldn't help it.

"What's so funny?" asked Fred.

Rachel pulled them both into the corridor, where nobody would see, and took off her contacts.

"Still think purple eyes are rare?" she asked.

"How did that happen?" asked George. "Are you a Metamorphagus or something?"

"No, I started off with blue eyes and somehow, while growing, blood got into them and made them violet," explained Rachel.

"Wicked!" said Fred and George, and the trio went back into the Great Hall and ate lunch.

"Are you accomplished," started Fred.

"In the art of pranking?" asked George.

"I met the Marauders, you have to know a lot about pranking to be able to survive with them around," replied Rachel.

"You met," started George.

"The Marauders?! Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail?!" cried Fred.

"Indeed," replied Rachel. "Not very kind people… Except for Moony," replied Rachel, sighing.

"Could you tell us their real names?" asked Fred.

"Wormtail was Peter Pettigrew, Moony was Remus Lupin (the boys gasped), Padfoot was Sirius Black (another gasp from the boys), and Prongs was James Potter (at this point the boys were on the verge of falling over)," explained Rachel. At this point the boys actually fell over backwards.

"You're meaning to tell us," said George.

"That a criminal, a dead man, a wise person, and another dead man… Were the Marauders?!" cried Fred.

"That's absurd," said George.

"Is James Potter, in any way, related to Harry Potter?" asked Fred.

"Indeed, I do believe he is," replied Rachel. "Harry's… father."

"I heard my name," came a voice from behind them. The trio spun around in their seats to see Harry Potter standing there, a curious look on his face.

"Or did you?!" asked Rachel.

"Fairly sure I did… Rachel, isn't it?" asked Harry.

"You've got the wrong person…" replied Rachel. "I'm Rachel, not Rachel."

Harry groaned. "So what were you saying about me?"

"Talking about your father," replied George.

"What do you know about him that I don't?" demanded Harry, placing his hands on his hips.

"Everything," replied Rachel, chuckling a bit.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Harry.

"I knew him," replied Rachel.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Harry, evidently not realising he was repeating himself.

"Well… Come with me," said Rachel, pulling him out of the Great Hall and into the room that was formerly the Divination classroom.

"Okay, sooooo… About my father?" asked Harry, eager to hear about his parents.

"Your father's name was James Potter, and he was a pureblood. He met Sirius Black on his train ride to Hogwarts, as well as Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew," began Rachel. "Sirius and he got along nicely. Remus was too busy getting indulged in a book about Lycanthropy to care, and Peter was too shy to communicate."

"He and Sirius loved to prank people. So they decided they'd have to become famous pranksters. Eventually, the others in the compartment were too interested to hide. They lapsed into conversation. Eventually, they all decided to become the greatest pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen. They nicknamed themselves the Marauders, and took a vow to be forever loyal and, hence their name, find out all of the secret passages and discover the castle."

"James was pretty much the leader of the Marauders. He was never seen without Sirius, though. He would never admit it to anyone, but he had a crush on Lily Evans ever since he first sighted her. He would be constantly begging her to go on a date with him, after third year, but she never would say yes."

"Can you tell me anything about my mother?" asked Harry.

"Oh yes, quite a bit. Much more than I could ever tell you about James, I absolutely hated him. Lily, the dear girl. She was a muggleborn. Ever so excited to attend Hogwarts. She had heard from Severus Snape that she was a witch before she had even heard of wizards. Only wanting to fit in, she'd go to everyone, almost begging to know about the wizarding world. She was so fascinated, she memorized all of the set books and more. If you asked her any magic question, she'd answer without a bat of the eyelash."

"She started off as a bouncing bundle of curiosity and fun, searching for other muggleborns. She was quite pleased to meet Nancy Webb, who was a fairly dumb blonde but shared her interest of the wizarding world. Nancy and Lily grew up in the Muggle world, they got along very well. They'd be talking about the Wizard of Oz, and other things. Lily was sorted into Gryffindor, but she should have been in Ravenclaw, except for her bravery. She always had twenty pounds of books in her bag, and would drag that around for hours a day, refusing to leave her precious friends anywhere besides within her range. She was the one who aced every class, and would tutor other students who needed help with schoolwork. At first, she hated James Potter with every ounce of hatred in her. But at the ball, in her fifth year, James begged her for a dance. She obliged, and they danced so beautifully. James was a pureblood, you know, and his parents were quite fond of having balls at their house. And Lily took dance lessons. They were the ones who stole the show. Ah, good times…" trailed Rachel.

"Wait, good times? How do you know all of this? Did you actually know them?" demanded Harry.

"Good times. I'm not from this time period. Time travel and stuff got me here," explained Rachel.

"What…?" asked Harry. But Rachel was literally saved by the bell, and she scurried off to Muggle Studies, which she probably didn't need, seeing as she grew up in a neighborhood of Muggles.

"Hello, all… Welcome to Muggle Studies. I'm Professor Burbage. Today we shall be learning about something the Muggles call electricity. I'll start off with rollcall. Rachel Feroce?" asked Professor Burbage.

"I am present," replied Rachel.

Seeing as she already knew about electricity, from her previous classes, the class went by swiftly, with Rachel answering the occasional question. She left the class right as the bell rang, and scurried all the way down to the dungeons for Potions class. Good planning.

"Ah, miss…" said Professor Snape.

"Feroce. Rachel Feroce, sir," said Rachel.

Snape scrutinized the girl who claimed to be Rachel. "Take a seat!"

Rachel scurried over to Fred and George and took a seat.

"Today we shall be learning how to make a sleeping potion so powerful, we refer to it as the Draught of Living Death," said Snape, and proceeded to write the instructions out on the board.

He walked around the room, closely inspecting each student's results. He came across Rachel's potion to find her making it in a complete different way from the instructions.

"Miss Feroce, what the devil is going on here?" he asked.

"I am brewing the Draught of Living Death, am I not?" countered Rachel.

"Powdered root of asphodel is not an ingredient," said Professor Snape.

"Well, would you like to see if I'm brewing it correctly? You're free to try it," said Rachel. Snape shook his head and walked over to the next student.

At the end of class, Rachel was the only one whose potion had turned to the desired shade of black, unlike many of the other unfortunate students whose potions had either exploded or turned to an undesirable shade of light grey.

Rachel left the classroom, smirking, as Snape debated whether or not she could really have been the one he danced with. He decided there was a major possibility, after all, she had gone missing around the time of the girl's disappearance. But she looked so different, besides the color of her hair.

"How did you make your potion so well?" asked Fred.

"I had Professor Slughorn for a teacher… Quite fond of parties at midnight, but a much etter teacher than that git," explained Rachel. "Can't believe I danced with him," she added under her breath.

"What was that last part?" asked George.

"Oh, nothing," replied Rachel.

So they separated in the hallway, Rachel going to the library (which, thank Merlin, was still in the same place) and the twins going only-Merlin-knows-where.

Rachel collided with Hermione there.

"Oh, hello. I haven't seen you since breakfast, how was your day?" asked Hermione.

"It was good… Okay, I can't do this any more. Do you mind listening to me?" asked Rachel. Hermione nodded.

"I've never told anyone, in sixteen years, my heritage. It's killing me," explained Rachel.

"Why? Do you have a bad family?" asked Hermione.

"You could say that," replied Rachel. "I'm the daughter of Zacharias and Tara Avery, some of Voldemort's most loyal Death Eaters… And my real name is Katrina."

"So… You live with them?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, no. I was disowned at the age of ten, had to start living in a Muggle orphanage," explained Rachel. "More so, supposedly. I didn't live in there, more so the orphanage staff were responsible for my wellbeing.

"That seems horrible!" exclaimed Hermione.

"What is even worse," said Rachel. "Is that Voldemort knows it."

**A/N : Ooh, another t-wist! Excited for chapter eight? I know I sure am! Okay, maybe not all questions were answered. But Voldemort knows of Rachel Feroce… Or should I say Katrina Avery? Please review for another chapter, and thanks to AmaryllisBloom and totallyobsessed123 for reviewing again! Should I make Rachel/Katrina be captured by Voldemort? Anyways, stay tuned for the next chapter!**


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